The Job Description of a Leader

A leader is a servant of servants.

Servant leaders serve the front-line people who are serving the customers. In other words, servant leaders serve the servants (front-line employees) who in turn take care of the customers. A servant leader is a servant of servants.

“The only way I have seen organizations get great results and great human satisfaction is when people understand the power of servant leadership.” Ken Blanchard

If you start studying leadership, you will quickly discover that there is a dazzling number of definitions of leadership in the literature. Most of them describe the heart or character of a leader. They focus on the kind of person who would make a good leader. While describing the profile of a leader is good, it doesn’t help with the practicalities of leading.

Leadership is a verb and leadership does

I think leadership is doing, not being. Leadership is a verb, not a noun. A leader is a doer. I believe being shapes and must precede doing. However, being isn’t doing. Having the character of a leader doesn’t make one a leader. Doing what a leader does is what makes one a leader. Another way to say it is that character is necessary but not sufficient to be a leader.

Several years ago, after leading a couple of organizations for a few years, I still wasn’t sure how I could succinctly and practically define the job of a leader. I wanted a definition of the role of a leader that I could personally use to stay on course and excel at leading. I wanted something I could use to assemble a leadership team, and also effectively assess their performance and my performance as well. So, I set out on a quest to find or come up with a definition of leadership that clearly delineates the critical functions of a leader that if one focuses on it, they will become a great leader.

Related Article: What is leadership

My Definition of Leadership Based on what Great Servant Leaders Actually Do

In line with my desire for a comprehensive functional definition of leadership, I decided to switch the focus from defining the word “leadership” to defining the word “leader.” My goal was to define the word “leader” from the standpoint of what a great leader actually does.

I define the word “leader” in terms of who a leader is, what he does, why he does it, and how he does it. Leadership as a subject doesn’t lead people. The discipline of leadership doesn’t change the world, what leaders do changes the world.

My definition spells out the job description of a leader and paints a picture of a leader’s role that is specific, clear, tangible, and measurable.

“A servant leader S.E.R.V.E.S a team of servants guiding them to accomplish a shared purpose, vision, and values .”

To put it briefly, a servant leader S.E.R.V.E.S.

I break my definition down further as follows:

A leader:
-S.E.R.V.E.S a team. Serving a team is what he does. You cannot be a leader if you don’t have a team.
-Serving is the heart of servant leadership. A leader doesn’t serve the customers. That’s the job of the front-line soldiers. A leader serves the people who serve the people.
-Shared Vision. The goal is to accomplish a shared vision (i.e., where he is going)

Related: What is leadership

The 5 W’s and 1 H of Leadership

To get a complete story on a subject, journalists, researchers, and police officers often use the 5Ws and 1H formula. Let’s see how my definition gets the complete story about a leader:

Who is he? A leader is a servant (who). He has the Heart, Head (mind), and Hands (deeds) of a servant.
Why does he serve? A higher purpose (why) motivates great leaders to do what they do. This higher purpose is something greater than oneself, something that will outlive us. It is not money or self-centered. Examples include God, unconditional love, country, a common good, etc. However, it must be outside of self and must be entirely for the good of the people.
What does he do? The leader S.E.R.V.E.S. Leadership is about serving.  It is about: 1) Guiding those who don’t know how to get somewhere, 2) Accomplishing or winning the goal/prize (which is the vision). A person who doesn’t lead the team to win is not an effective leader.
Where does he do it? Where is he going? The leader’s job is people. A leader leads people. The team is where he works. A leader is a shepherd. That’s why he must understand people. He leads the team to accomplish a shared vision (i.e., where he is going)
How does he do it? In a way that helps the team to achieve a shared vision.
When does he do it? A leader leads now and always. However, a competent leader interprets the times to know when to act. Leaders know that timing is everything. When to Lead Is As Important As What to Do and Where to Go. To lead well, you need to do the right things, in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, and for the right reasons.

It’s important to emphasize that a good leader doesn’t do the work of leading alone. He or she forms a team around him that together does the job of leading. For example, even though the leader brings new talent to the team, after carefully choosing a competent HR leader, the leader can together with the HR leader bring in future talent.

A (servant) leader serves. S.E.R.V.E.S is a mnemonic I created to remember the six key things that a leader does.

The following six phrases describe how a great leader serves a team:

1. Strategy: Provide a shared winning aspiration and strategy to achieve it.
2. Enlist and Engage A-plus talent: Enlist people who are better than you and keep them engaged on the winning aspiration.
3. Review and Reward Performance: Review team member performance and Reward their Contribution.
4. Values and Culture Promotion: Lead culture creation and champion it.
5. Equip and empower the team: Equip and empower the team to achieve the winning aspiration.
6. Set the standard/example: Show them how. Set the example/standard.

These six critical duties of a leader form a framework that can be used by anyone who wants to become a leader in any endeavor. I use this framework in a big-picture setting to help me lead the entire team or organization as a whole. However, its most significant utility is seen when I use it to work with individual team members. It ensures I am fulfilling each of the six duties for them in one-on-one interactions.

Related Article: 7 Things Great Leaders Always Do.

The 6 Key Duties of Every Great Servant Leader

A leader serves. Leaders are servants. Leaders are the servants of the team members. Team members are servants of the vision. Leaders live to serve team members, not to serve themselves. A leader takes care of the souls who do work. This dedication to serving the team is the spirit and heart of a servant leader. The following six points describe how a great leader serves.

Before I delve deeper into the six duties of a great servant leader, I want to emphasize that these duties are responsibilities they have. However, they never actually carry them out alone. They are responsible for making sure that these six duties are carried out. The buck stops with them, and the blame falls of them if the duties are not performed. They are directly involved and are the lead persons on teams responsible for these duties. However, they never carry them out alone. They humbly surround themselves and work with individuals wiser and more talented than them in different areas. The greatest trait of every great servant leader is humility, and this serves the servant leader well here. Their second most important trait is great faith, which also helps them tremendously in carrying out their six core duties.

1. Strategy: Provide a shared winning aspiration and strategy to achieve it.

A leader sets the course and steers the ship with strategy. The first step of strategy is creating an inspiring shared winning aspiration or vision of the desired future.

“One of the leader’s jobs is to teach others in the organization about strategy.” Michael Porter, in What is Strategy 

A leader’s first job is to provide a clear and compelling shared aspiration and the strategy to achieve it.

Other words I use for this role include are strategic direction, setting the course & steer the ship; shaping strategy; Strategic thinking; Strategy formation.

To set the course, great leaders start with “why” (purpose), then how (core values/behaviors), then what (vision/mission).

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” -Simon Sinek

After leaders have defined a clear purpose and values, leaders must see visions and dream dreams of a better, brighter future.  As the chief strategist, the leader guides the creation of a shared strategic vision. He sets or charts a course or direction for the team. Strategy starts with seeing a better future. Great leaders are seers. They are almost prophetic, like Martin Luther King (MLK). MLK saw visions and dreamt dreams of a better future for America when he said, “I have a dream…” MLK saw that vision of a better and brighter America when the country was at its worst. Great leaders see visions and dream dreams. President John F. Kennedy saw visions of a better and brighter future for America’s space mission. When the chance of landing a man on the moon in 10 years was 50-50 at best, we saw visions and dreamt dreams and committed the nation to land a man on the moon. Great leaders envision a better future. They see visions and dream dreams.

Google’s OKR Approach
A leader sets the course for the entire organization. For example, at the beginning of each quarter, Google CEO Lary Page sets OKRs for the company. That triggers everyone else to make sure their OKRs roughly sync with Google’s. In his book, Work Rules!, Google’s V.P. of People Operations, Lazlo Bock, says, “Once you see the company’s goals, it’s easy enough to compare them to your own. If they’re wildly out of step, either there’s a good reason or you refocus. In addition, everyone’s OKRs are visible to everyone else in the company on our internal website, right next to their phone number and office location. It’s important that there’s a way to find out what other people and teams are doing, and motivating to see how you fit into the broader picture of what Google is trying to achieve. Finally, Larry’s OKRs, followed by his quarterly report on how the company has performed, set the standard for transparency in communication and an appropriately high bar for our goals.”

Related article: GROWTH FRAMEWORK: 6 Steps for Choosing a Strategy.

Ken Blanchard’s approach
When Ken Blanchard was a professor at the university, at the beginning of the semester, he would give his students all the questions that were going to be on the final exam. Then he would spend the semester teaching them to make an A grade on the final exam. The goal was for every student to be taught and mentored to make an A-grade. Great leaders use that approach to leading people. They want all their team members to perform well and make straight As and A-pluses.

Ken Blanchard says, when you’re managing people’s performance within an organization, there are three parts to it. First, there’s performance planning. Performance planning is where you set the goals/objectives and clarify expectations. That is you give them the final exam questions ahead of time. You let them know, “Here’s what you’re being held accountable for doing.” Here’s what good behavior is. Here’s what excellent performance looks like.” The second part is day-to-day coaching. Day-to-day coaching involves you working with them to help them achieve their performance goals. In Mr. Blanchard’s words, this is teaching them the answers throughout the semester.  The 3rd part is performance evaluation. You do the first two parts so that when they get to the third part, which is the performance evaluation, they all make A grades and A-pluses. 

Tasks under this duty

• Shape strategy – Create a shared goal (mission, values, and vision), and a strategy for achieving the shared goal. Related article: GROWTH FRAMEWORK: 6 Steps for Choosing a Strategy.
• Teach your people about strategy.
• Come up with the company’s OKRs.
• Help team members to choose good OKRs that align with the company’s OKRs, i.e. Performance planning for each key team member
• Set clear expectations for each team member.
• Clarify mission, values, vision, and broad goals.

Good Resources

• Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, by Roger Martin and A.G. Lafley
• Strategy according to Roger Martin.

2. Enlist & Engage A-plus Talent: Enlist people who are better than you and keep them engaged on the winning aspiration

“Hire only people who are better than you” Lazlo Bock, V.P. People Operations at Google

A leader employs the right people and motivates and inspires them to engage and serve the vision. A leader enlists excellent new talent, engages old ones, and endow them.

Enlisting and Engaging team members is the single most important and the most challenging aspect of a leader’s job. It is the rate-limiting step. When well done, it makes everything else easier to do.

A) Enlist/Enroll/Employ
A leader attracts and enlists/enrolls/employs talent. He brings on talented team members who share the same purpose, vision, and values. Recruiting is where the leader builds the capabilities needed to win. Successful leaders know how to enlist, properly allocate, and deploy great talent. However, great leaders don’t do anything alone. They don’t even set the course alone. As Jim Collins says in Good to Great, great leaders bring the right people onto the bus, and then together they determine where the bus should go. When I decided the take my leadership to the next level, the first person I enlisted was a fantastic Human Resource director for our organization. The job of bringing on new talent is always the responsibility of the leader. However, now, with someone with excellent skills at spotting talent as my adviser, it made my job easier. The H.R. director helped me find other talents to bring on board. Great leaders never work alone. They get counsel from trusted advisers and consultants and are always learning and growing themselves. I recommend that when possible, one of the first people to be enlisted should be someone with great H.R. talents and experience.

“People are not your most important resource; the right people are.” Jim Collins

B) Engage
Great leaders engage their current talent. They realize that enlisting a talent does not spell the end of their job. Without keeping talent engaged, one would lose them to the competition. Even if they stay, without being engaged, they won’t be as effective as they could be. As such, you don’t stop enlisting your people when you get them on board. You continue to enlist/engage them by getting their buy-in and helping them see a better future for themselves with your organization than any other opportunities out there.

C) Endow (with leadership)
A great leader realizes that everything rises and falls on leadership. They secure the future of the organization by endowing it with future leaders. They do this by creating a culture and systems for effective succession.

“A Leader’s Lasting Value Is Measured by Succession” John Maxwell

Servant leaders focus on the long-term success of the organization, and when they recruit and develop people, they ensure that the legacy and work of the organization continues. They value the organization so much that they don’t want the success and long-term viability of the organization to be dependent on one person, even if that person is them.

Servant leaders prepare every team member for succession. That doesn’t mean that every team member is going to become the future president or somehow is placed on a royal succession chain where each person is in line for the throne. Recently, I was watching the news and saw how Prince William of Wales is 2nd in line to the throne. His brother Prince Harry of Wales, used to be 3rd in line. But with Prince William now having three children, Prince Henry has been moved to 6th in line to the throne. That’s not what I mean here by preparing every team member for succession. I don’t believe in routinely ferrying people up a particular chain in the name of promotion unless those people have the right DESIGN for that next position. I think that an organization is an organism. Every position is like an organ within the organism. Can you imagine trying to promote the heart for an excellent job by making it the brain? Each organ has a role. You can train muscles that weren’t so strong to become stronger and stronger each year so that they become the best muscles they can be but making them something they don’t have the design for is not smart. I think that is generally true with people as well. Yet, every team member has an integral part to play in preparing the organization for succession.

Servant leaders serve from a place of security. They are humble and confident in their capabilities and commitment to serve the company. Because they are not self-serving and trying to protect their tuft, they equip and empower people to take their place. They work themselves out of a job. They know that by doing this, they ensure the succession of the company.

Tasks under this duty

• Hire A-plus talent. Hire talent that is better than you.
• Start with a great HR director, maker of product, marketer, and money manager.
• Hire the right talent based on alignment vision, purpose, values, and culture as well as their talent/gifts.
• On-board new talent in ways that facilitate assimilation of the organization’s culture.
• Keep current team members engaged.
• Plan for succession
• Ensure that processes are created for every important function within the organization.
• In a nonprofit organization, enlisting talent includes enlisting donors and resources.

3. Review and Reward Performance: Review of Staff Performance and Reward their Contribution

What’s in it for my people?

Effective leaders review and reward team member performance. These leaders evaluate team members based on how team members perform behaviors and produce the numbers (results) that move the organization closer to achieving its vision. To reward, the leader must first review performance. However, the goal of performance review is rewarding or course correction.

Instead of annual performance reviews, effective servant-leaders walk alongside their team members, providing day-to-day coaching and ongoing performance reviews that help with real-time course corrections. Weekly or twice monthly reviews and coaching are much more profitable to the team member than quarterly or annual reviews.

A good leader must always realize that the journey must be a win-win for the individual team players as well as the organization. Leaders must always ask and answer the question, “What’s in it for my people?”. Great leaders don’t wait for their people to ask this question. By the time some people ask, it’s too late. A proactive leader may have won them over by providing them with something better. Great leaders work with each team member to preemptively answer this question.

Related Article: How to Evaluate and Promote Talent.

Material and Immaterial Rewards / Extrinsic and Intrinsic Rewards
Material rewards are not the only type of reward that matters. Immaterial rewards are also crucial. Research shows that money ceases to be a motivating factor for people to work when they earn above a certain income threshold that meets their financial needs. Above such a threshold, immaterial/spiritual motivations become more critical.

Most high-performing people are motivated by more than money. They seek a much better reward. They want the fulfillment that comes from doing something bigger than themselves (purpose). They desire the satisfaction of a job well done. Dan Pink’s research popularized this truth by showing that a desire for mastery, autonomy, and purpose, motivates people to do the things they do.

In addition to financial rewards, leaders must actively work to meet the fundamental human needs of all their team members. Meeting the fundamental human needs provides both material and immaterial rewards. All team members deserve to work at a company that meets their fundamental human needs. Meeting these needs should be the foundation of compensation.

Reward killers
A company can provide many rewards to its team members only for the team members to still feel unrewarded. That would be a travesty. That would be an unfortunate thing. The reward has to be perceived and felt by the employees.

Nothing kills the perception of a reward or gift as fast as a sense of entitlement and a spirit of martyrdom. Entitlement and martyrdom make people very ungrateful. They always feel they deserve more than you can give. As a leader, you have to help your people stay free of entitlement and a spirit of martyrdom.

I recommend the count your blessings activity to help people remain grateful for what they are already benefiting from working for the company. A good addition to that is to have people suggest further ways they think they could benefit from their work and how they think the team can work together to make that happen.

Value people
In addition to recognizing and rewarding people, value people. When you value people, you affirm them. You value them for who they are, for their inherent value as humans. When we value people, we serve them. But we cannot add value to a person. They are already as valuable as can be. I’m reminded of the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” We cannot add value to people. When you value people, they can walk with their heads up and be inspired to become who they already are and who they were created to be. Valuing people calls out the best in them. I used to speak of adding value to people until I had a discussion with my friend, Dr. Eric Tangumonkem. He told me that when we add value to people, it means we can take that value away also. The moment he started speaking, I got it. I added, we “affirm people, not make them more valuable.” Valuing people stimulates a cycle of growth for them. If you are a leader, you should value people and create a values-driven culture to support your talented people to do their best work.

Tasks under this duty

• Review of performance. Ongoing performance reviews on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis.
• Reward of performance. Reward & Recognition Programs based on behaviors (values) and results (performance).
• Evaluate people based on two things: Behaviors (values) and numbers (results). See more: How to Evaluate and Promote Talent.
• Reward team-members by ensuring that their fundamental human needs are getting met.

4. Values and Culture Promotion

“Culture always trumps any strategy you try to implement.” Stephen R. Covey (in the foreword of Built on Values).

Culture is a crucial part of strategy. For a shared purpose and vision to have a chance at being realized, you need a healthy, vibrant culture. Core values must be lived out in a way that creates such a culture. Without culture, vision and purpose have no chance of being achieved. Peter Drucker once said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” The message of that statement is clear. You can’t have a strategy work without culture. However, culture and strategy aren’t different things as such. We can and must view culture as strategy.

Culture is values lived out. Culture is built on a foundation of values. Values that really create culture are those that shape the way people act. One way that servant leaders create a strong culture is to use their values, purpose, and vision when they hire, review, reward, or fire people.

Tasks under this duty

• Shape culture – Influence the creation of a values-based culture. Values-based organizations (VB)) are great places to work.
• Champion culture and values implementation and review.

5. Equip and empower the team to achieve the winning aspiration

A leader coaches and builds up the team so that it is more effective at achieving the vision.

After you have hired people better than yourself, equip/educate, coach, and empower them to do their best work.

Tasks under this duty

• Provided the 4 dimensions of empowerment: Material – Provide the material resources needed to do their work; Psychological – empower them mentally and emotionally to succeed; Socially – Empower them with the relationships and connections needed to succeed; Spiritually – Empower them to become connected and grow spiritually.
• Serve them. Ask, “What can I do to help you do your best work?” And then do it.
• Give them the power and authority to act and then get out of their way. Only secure leaders can give power to others. Insecure leaders want to hoard it. Give them the authority and the ammunition to go to war. Give them the tools they need to do their jobs.
• Equip/Educate them; help them grow to achieve their full potential and provide them with opportunities to do more, be promoted, and to continue learning and growing.
• Give the autonomy they need to do their best work.
• Set up the structures and management systems necessary to support team members.
• Mentor/coach and develop team members. Related Article: The Growth Model of Coaching (Practice Sheet with Questions).
• Initiate leadership development.
• Meet their fundamental human needs (See rewards)

Mentoring
Visit with them regularly, know them well, and love them deeply — both professionally and personally. Relationship is at the heart of leadership. You can’t lead people you don’t truly know.

On a personal level, know their families, interests, and their stories. On a professional level, visit with them regularly, give ongoing feedback (positive and negative), and help them grow. Affirm them and encourage them in their work journey. When you visit with them, provide ongoing coaching so that you can prepare them to shine on their performance evaluation and succeed.

Tasks under this duty

• Meet regularly with team members.
• Build strong relationships with each team member. Get to know them inside and outside work.

6. Standards

“CEOs set the values, the standards, the ethics of an organization. They either lead or they mislead.” Peter Drucker

People do what they see modeled for them.

“Values establish a company’s identity; they’re about behavior…Standards are about expectations; they guide our decisions. Standards are the measuring stick for values.” A.G. Lafley

Set the Standards/example.
The Macmillan dictionary defines the term “set the standard” as “to perform an activity at a level that other people have to try to achieve. E.g., a company that sets the standard for overnight delivery.” A servant leader must set the standard for excellence in faith, humility, and service. In what other areas should the leader set the example?

Tasks under this duty

• Exemplify service. The only reason to do business is to serve. Money is a reward for exceptional service. Servant leaders serve the people who serve the people. They set an example of service for the staff by how well they serve the team. As such, the staff can see what excellent service looks like. In turn, staff members can serve customers with that same degree of excellence.
• Exemplify living out the core values.
• Model producing results (performance) for the organization. The job of the leader is different from that of the front-line people. However, if the leader does his job with excellence and produces results, and the front-line staff members do the same, the entire organization will benefit.

The leader must embody and symbolize the ideals and values of the organization. He must be the standard-bearer and demonstrate executive wisdom and temperament. That is, he must show the ability and confidence that is needed to handle the pressures and challenges of a leadership role effectively.

He must set as the standard for what the team should be and how it should perform. He shows the way and models excellence in behavior and performance for the team.

 

 

Resources

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/understandinganddevelopingorganizationalculture.aspx Last Accessed Sept 2019

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/whatdoesitmeantobeavalues-basedorganization.aspx Last Accessed Sept 2019